WESTFIELD – The drama unfolding was that, ultimately, there was no drama.

Sure, Westfield and Piscataway had plenty of entertaining matches, crowd-erupting overtime bouts and dominating pins. But in the end, the Blue Devils cruised 38-21 in the North 2 Group V semifinal.

In other words, no need to cue up the "Law & Order" music.

“I think I keep underestimating my kids,” said Westfield coach Glen Kurz with a laugh. “You know, every time I think that they’re going to be in a tough match, they come through and take care of business. I’m going to learn to stop doing that. You know what, all kidding aside, they keep raising the bar. They keep raising the bar. That’s why they’re there.”

Both teams and observers were expecting a tight finish, just like last season when Westfield nipped Piscataway in the sectional semifinal. Wednesday, though, Westfield won a stretch of seven straight with four bonus points to prevail.

Next up is another rematch. The second-seeded Blue Devils go to top-seeded Watchung Hills, which defeated No. 4 Ridge 60-9 in Wednesday’s other semifinal. The sectional champion advances to the Team Tournament group semifinals and finals on Feb. 10 at the RWJBarnabas Health Arena on the campus of Toms River High School North.

Last season, Watchung Hills defeated Westfield 39-23 in the section final. In the 2017 section semifinals, Watchung Hills won 40-19. This time, the Blue Devils hope to close the gap.

First, they had to beat a tough Piscataway team, which finished second in the Greater Middlesex Conference Tournament on Jan. 26.

“I feel like we got hot as a team and I think everyone built off each other,” Miller said. “A lot of big wins. A lot of wins people didn’t really see coming. Limited bonus points and I feel like we put a lot of kids on their back tonight, ended up picking up more points than we were supposed to in a lot of matches. I mean, we’ve been talking about this one all week and we’ve really been preparing for it. We didn’t expect to walk out of here up 17 points. So it feels good.”

At 170, Gabe Rodrigues opened with an 8-2 win for Piscataway. Next up at 182, Miller countered with a stirring 9-6 win, which got the loud home crowd in it. Kurz said it was the first time that he could remember Westfield hosting a sectional semifinal.

Trailing 6-4 in the third period, Miller hit a reversal with just under 30 seconds remaining to tie it 6-6. He worked in a half nelson and turned Nick Lodato with under 10 seconds left for the 9-6 win. At the time, those three team points seemed like it could play a big factor.

“Hey, you know what, you’re a senior,” Kurz said. “You’re a leader. You’re a captain. He stepped up big-time. His team needed him, he came through for them.”

Miller said, “I guess at the end of the match, I just had to keep my composure and go out there and score points and I was able to do that. I think that’s part of the conditioning we have because everybody’s working hard in the room. I feel like pretty much everybody on this team was feeling good in the third period. And I think that definitely helped me score those five points at the end.”

In an expected tossup match at 195, Westfield bumped up Brendan Loder to 220. It was about a wash, as Piscataway’s Nick Recine pinned at 195 to give the Chiefs a 9-3 lead.

Loder got a 24-9 technical fall to cut the deficit to 9-8. Before you knew it, Westfield had a 32-9 lead. Loder’s win started the stretch of the seven consecutive victories. In an exciting heavyweight match that was tied 5-5 entering the third period, Heard rode out David Greene, but couldn’t turn him. In sudden victory, Heard spun behind with 23 seconds remaining for the 7-5 win. At 106, Piscataway’s Desmond Pleasant worked for back points at the end, but Jacobs held on for the 10-8 win.

At 113, Gimblette won 17-3, followed by Hoerle powering his way to a 17-2 win. At 126, Silber filled in for state-ranked CJ Composto and scored the pin in 2:27. Ciotta ended the Westfield 29-point run with a 5-1 win.

At that point, Westfield led 32-9 and Piscataway needed a combination of four pins, disqualifications or injury defaults to pull out a dramatic win. At 138, Piscataway's Jake Sisk defeated Theo Dardia 9-3, but the Westfield fans started cheering as the Blue Devils clinched the victory.

“It was close and then they just went on a run,” Piscataway coach Dan Smith said. “It seemed like they really wanted it tonight. … They were the better team tonight. Tough loss. Tough loss. We thought it would definitely be closer even if they showed us a different lineup than their usual.”

The third-seeded Chiefs also got a 6-5 win from Marcus Petite (152) and a pin from Joseph Hatcher (160) to close the match.

Now, Piscataway turns their attention to the district tournament on Feb. 16.

“Trying to work hard next week,” Smith said. “Get everyone ready for districts. Keep them healthy. Keep improving some technique, conditioning. Just keep looking forward. The season’s not over yet.”

Neither is Westfield's. In Friday's sectional final against Watchung Hills, the Blue Devills will likely be considered the underdogs by most observers, in what should be an entertaining dual. Watchung Hills is ranked No. 18 in the New Jersey Wrestling Writers Association Top 20 poll.

“If my team shows up and wrestle like this, we’re going to give them everything we got,” Kurz said.